Survivor
by Galadriel1010
Summary: Torchwood is a dangerous life, and Ianto's body shows it. A day on the beach reveals that normal people can find this disturbing


Ianto stood at the edge of the water, eyeing both it and Jack with a certain degree of suspicion, whilst Jack laughed at him. "Come on in, the water's fine," he teased, flicking water in Ianto's direction.

"It's Wales, the water's freezing," Ianto corrected him, kicking a flash of water back at Jack. He laughed and shook it out of his hair, but Ianto had backed out of the water. "I'm pale enough as it is; if I go in there, I'll turn blue."

Jack sighed and crouched down so that the water came up to his neck – admittedly, it wasn't as warm as he was making out, but they'd come to the beach for a day off and he was determined to get Ianto in the sea. "You won't feel it after a couple of minutes," he promised.

"If you wanted to go to the beach, couldn't we have gone somewhere warm? Or if you wanted to go swimming wouldn't the swimming baths have done? We could even have gone and used the spa at the St David's," he took a step back into the water gingerly and shuddered. "How can you stand it? It's freezing."

He shrugged and held his hands out. "Tell you what, if you come here now, I'll treat you to a full evening of pampering and dinner at the St David's, and we'll stay there overnight."

"Really?" Ianto perked up a bit and took another reluctant step. "Why are you doing this?"

"Come here," he beckoned, putting just enough pout in it that Ianto capitulated and took another step. "You know you'll love it really."

"No I won't," Ianto got close enough to take his hand and gave another full-body shudder. "I'll be cold and miserable, and then we'll go up onto the beach and I'll get sand stuck to me in unfortunate places."

"And I'll brush it off for you, and then we'll wash it off in the pool." Jack promised, tugging him closer, close enough that he could rest his hands on Ianto's waist. "Tanya will love us."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that you have a personal mission to piss off everyone we come into regular contact with," Ianto chided him.

"I don't," he protested.

"No, just a talent," he agreed, finally giving into Jack's tugging and taking another step closer, pressing his chest against Jack's and letting Jack rub his hands over his arms to warm him up. "I get to choose what we do next time."

"Yeah, you do." Jack found that he was unconsciously scanning the beach for threats, so he rested his chin on Ianto's shoulder and closed his eyes. "The sun's warm, though."

"It is," Ianto agreed.

Their moment was broken by a shocked gasp close to them, and they both turned to find out what was going on, partly driven by human curiosity and partly by Torchwood trained instincts. They were surprised to find a teenage girl staring at Ianto, hands clasped over her mouth. "OhmyGod," she squeaked.

"What?" he tried to look over his shoulder. "Is there something on my back?"

"I'm sorry," she said, looking absolutely horrified at her behaviour now. "I just... I saw your scars and... How did you... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have... I'm sorry."

He shook his head quickly before she could bolt. "No, it's okay. I forgot that normal people react to things like that. I'm with the emergency services, it happens."

"Oh, right..." she was still brick red, and poised to run. "Well then... thank you. I should go..."

Jack splayed his hands across Ianto's back as he pulled him back into his embrace. "She'd have bought you a drink if you were alone. I'm clearly cramping your style."

"She's not old enough to buy me a drink," Ianto snorted. "Besides, anyone else would find them far too big a deal."

Jack pulled back and frowned. "I find them a big deal."

"Yes, they scare the crap out of you," Ianto agreed. "But you know what they mean. And you understand where the painful scars are."

He nodded and rubbed at Ianto's back. "You just go on surviving, don't you, Ianto Jones?"

"Yeah, well," Ianto smiled at him. "The coffee quality would suffer if I didn't."

Jack raised his hand and kissed it. "I dare say that the leadership quality would suffer as well. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they might lose their leader completely. I don't know if I could stay without you now, not for a while, anyway."

"Well," Ianto cleared his throat. "I'd better keep surviving a bit longer, then, hadn't I?"

"I'd really rather you did," Jack agreed.


End file.
